Hope
by GryffinWitch
Summary: Lily and James are about to go into hiding under the protection of the Fidelus Charm. They are worried about Harry and don't want to lose their child...again.


Disclaimer- Anything and everything that you recognise is written by the one and only JKR.

Lily Potter walked out into the St. Mungo's entrance hall with her face glowing. The weather outside was bright and sunny reflecting her mood perfectly. Typical August, she thought. The Healer had just confirmed what she herself had been suspecting for the last few days. She couldn't wait to get home and tell James the good news. As she walked towards the Apparition point, she remembered the first time she had told James that he was going to be a father…

~*~

Twenty-one months earlier-

"James, don't you think we should be adding another room to our house?" Lily asked him innocently.

James was busy with some paperwork and didn't even bother to look up. "Why? Why do we want another room?"

"It's not for us."

"Not for us? What do you mean Lily? Are we having any guests?"

"Um…yes, sort of."

James looked up. Lily's eyes were twinkling with mischief, a sure warning sign that James had come to recognize for it usually meant that she was up to something.

"What are you playing at Lily?" James finally gave Lily his full attention.

"We are having a permanent guest."

"Stop giving cryptic clues. Tell me what is happening." James was looking at her curiously with his head tilted to one side. Lily decided to stop teasing him.

"You are about to be a father. I am pregnant."

The curious expression on James' face froze for a second. Then it turned into a look of incredulity and slowly to one of pure joy. He jumped up from the couch and ran towards Lily, picked her up in his arms and danced in circles. Slowing down, he gave her a long and passionate kiss.

"I am so very happy! I can't express it in words, my lovely flower…"

Nine months later, they had been blessed with a lovely little boy, their very own Harry…

~*~

Now the one-year-old Harry was going to have a little brother or sister. Personally, she wished it would be a sister; someone to whom she could talk about boys and make-up while James and Harry talked about Quidditch. She had no doubt that Harry would grow up to be an excellent Quidditch player, exactly like his father. Just one-year-old and he was already zooming around on his toy broomstick, breaking things around the house.

Lily pulled out a small glove from her bag and tapped it with her wand. The secret Portkey was activated and seconds later, she was inside the Potter Residence in Godric's Hollow. She hastily removed the Glamour and Concealment Charms she had put on herself to keep her from being recognized and ran upstairs to find James.

"James! James! Oh there you are!" She found him at last in the Duelling Room, shooting spells fiercely at the dummy. "I just came back from St. Mungo's."

"Lily! Do you have any idea how worried I have been! I came back from the meeting with Dumbledore just to find a note saying that you would be back in an hour. How could you be so irresponsible? You just left the house like that! What if something had happened to you! And where the hell is Harry?"

"Calm down James," Lily tried to placate him.

James cut her off and shouted again. "You are telling me to calm down! You have no idea…" James' mouth kept moving, but no words came out. He saw Lily putting back her wand in her robes. She had just Silenced him.

"Now listen to me James. I had to go to St. Mungo's. I have just found out that I am pregnant again. Had I told you about my suspicions before, you would have cancelled this important meeting with Dumbledore and insisted on coming with me. I didn't want that. As for Harry, I left him with Sirius, Remus and Peter at Sirius' house. Don't you dare call me irresponsible when it comes to dealing with Harry!" Her voice had gone dangerously low, and her green eyes had narrowed into slits.

James looked at her incredulously and opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Having finished saying what she wanted to say, Lily removed the Silencing Charm.

"You are pregnant again?" James stared at her wide-eyed. "It is such wonderful news! I am so sorry for behaving like a complete git." Saying this he walked up to Lily and gave her a soft kiss on her lips. She mellowed down instantly and deepened the kiss further. After some time, they broke apart.

"So Harry is going to have a brother, eh?" James asked, his hazel eyes twinkling merrily.  
"No way! This time it has to be a girl," Lily replied.

~*~

Nearly three months later-

The Fidelius Charm was going to be performed that evening. It meant that they could no longer have the freedom of stepping out of their house or of their friends visiting them. Their guest list would only comprise of Sirius and Dumbledore. James had pleaded with Dumbledore to allow his friends to visit them. But Dumbledore had refused…

"James, I know that you trust all your friends implicitly, but there is a traitor amongst us. I pray that you reconsider and have me as your Secret Keeper. You can never be sure who is going to betray us."

"Albus, I have told you a hundred times, and I tell you once more—I will not have anyone other than Sirius as my Secret Keeper. Not even you. It's too dangerous and you already have a lot of things to keep you busy."

"My number one priority is to keep you and your family—especially young Harry extremely safe. Please James, give me a chance."

"No. And you are not going to stop my friends from coming here!"

"I am afraid that I am simply not going to allow that, under any condition. Only Sirius, as Secret Keeper will be allowed."

Harry was currently with his Godfather, who wanted to spend the day with his favourite Godson and so Lily and James decided to have a nice long walk in the garden. Just as they were about to enter inside their home again, they saw flashes of light and heard loud bangs far away—the unmistakable sign of another attack. It looked as if the Death Eaters had attacked the nearby Muggle village of Cornwall.

James looked at Lily and spoke urgently, "Lily, get back inside quickly. I will alert the Order members and check what's wrong in Cornwall."

"No James! You are not going alone. I am coming with you."

"Don't be stupid. You are pregnant and…"

Lily had already walked out of the gate and Disapparated by that time. James swore loudly and Disapparated from precisely the same spot, to Apparate a second later beside Lily. James then sent his Patronus to inform the Order of the emergency. They both began attacking the Death Eaters, slowly at first from behind a tree to avoid detection. Before the Death Eaters had realized that someone was attacking them, two were already Stunned and three knocked out as more and more Order members started appearing. Lily shot a Disarming spell at a Death Eater, and caught his wand. She then moved out into the open to get better aim and then Stunned the Death Eater. She turned and saw a purple spell coming towards her. She managed to raise a weak shield, but only just. The Shield managed to block the worst of the spell, but it still hit her stomach and she collapsed.

Even though Lily had fallen, others were still fighting, and the Order members soon outnumbered the Death Eaters. Realising this, the remaining Death Eaters fled the scene. As the Order members began to tie up the incapacitated Death Eaters, James ran beside Lily and took her up in his arms.

"Lily, wake up. Wake up dear! Rennervate!"

"Take her to Headquarters, James. Poppy will be waiting there," Dumbledore told him before moving on to clear up the street.

James then quickly Disapparated with Lily to Longbottom House which was also the Order Headquarters. Madam Pomfrey was sitting there talking with Augusta Longbottom and cooing over baby Neville, but jumped up as soon as James appeared. Augusta got up and went inside, taking Neville with her.

"Oh my dear Lord! Lily! What was she doing fighting? She is supposed to be taking minimum risk and resting. How could you let her fight James?" She exclaimed while examining Lily.

James didn't answer. He just sank down in an armchair with his head in his hands.  
"Poor girl. The spell is not as strong as it could have been. She must have cast a shield. Thank God for that! It's the Entrail-Expelling Curse. I shudder to think what would have happened if…never mind, she will survive," she trailed off. James looked up with relief in his eyes when she said that Lily would survive. However, seeing Madam Pomfrey's serious face, he put his head back in his hands.

She made a few complex wand movements and then frowned. She then administered a potion to the still-unconscious Lily.

"Well, she should wake up in a few hours now. Not completely healthy, but the Shield saved her," she paused for a minute, unsure of how to continue. "But…"

"But what?" James looked up.

"She lost the baby."

James eyes filled with tears and he slumped back. But after few seconds he spoke. "But my darling Lily is safe. And we still have Harry. And…and we could have another baby. Later."

"No, James. I am sorry, but Lily can never be a mother again."

Later that evening Sirius and Dumbledore were sitting in the living room. Dumbledore had come to check on Lily and to look over the casting of the Fidelius Charm. However, an emergency came up and Dumbledore had to leave. James assured him that everything would be fine. As Dumbledore left, Sirius came up to James.

"James, I have a plan."

"Ah Padfoot, not another one of your plans. Not now!"

"I am very serious."

James realized that Sirius was indeed serious when he missed that perfect opportunity to make a Sirius/ serious joke.

"I know that you trust me with your life, Prongs. Problem is that Voldemort knows it too. He is bound to come after me sooner or later. Though I would give my life rather than betray you, I think that you should change over to Peter. They would never guess that you would put so much trust in that little rat. It will be the perfect ruse!"

"I see that you are not suggesting Moony for the job." James narrowed his eyes.

"Well, as much as I hate to say it, he is spending a lot of his time with his furry little friends these days," Sirius said darkly.

"Padfoot, I trust Remus as much as I trust you!"

"Please let's not get into that now. Besides, Peter would rather cut off his hand than speak to old Voldy. He can do you no harm. He has no guts!"

At long last, James nodded. "Fine. But it's your job to convince Wormtail."

"No worries Prongs old friend, it's already done. I think I will let him in. Poor Wormy, he must be soaking to the bone. It's pouring outside!"

~*~

One week later-

James was in the sitting room, with Harry on his lap. He was crying loudly and absolutely refusing to calm down. James put his hand under Harry's blue shirt, and tickled him. He cried louder.

"For God's sake, James! Can't you take care of Harry even for a minute," Lily's voice came from the kitchen.

"I am trying Lily, I am trying," James said, pulling out his wand. He waved his wand and puffs of coloured smoke erupted. Harry looked at them and stopped wailing. He tried to grab at the puffs as they disappeared. Harry giggled. Relieved, James started making the puffs appear more rapidly. Harry started laughing as he tried to grab them.

Lily came out from the kitchen and watched the scene before her. Yes, she was saddened by the thought that she could not have another child. But she was glad to have Harry after last week's accident. Seeing Harry's round and happy face wrenched her heart at the thought of what lay before him. She made a strong resolve to never let anything happen to her darling son. She would protect him from that blasted son of a bitch, even if that were the last thing she did.

"Come to Mummy, Harry. It's time for us to go to sleep." She took him from James and looked into the green eyes—so like her own and touched his soft black hair— untidy like James', even now. Her resolve strengthened as she saw the smile on his face. She took him upstairs and laid him on his cot.

Just then, she heard the door blast open and instinctively picked up Harry from the cot. James' voice carried all the way up to her—

"Lily, take Harry and run! I will stop him—"

His voice was abruptly cut off by a harsh cold laugh followed by "Avada Kedavra!" and then silence. She suddenly felt cold. Dread filled up inside her. Lily frantically looked around for her wand as she heard soft footsteps coming up the stairs and it hit her. She had left it in the kitchen. She held tightly to the only thing she had—Harry.

The door burst open. She dropped Harry behind her on the cot and threw her arms wide. She would not let that filthy man lay his hands on her son. She had already lost James; she was not going to lose Harry too.

_"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"_ Lily pleaded. _(_pg 281 ch. 17 DH)

_"Stand aside, you silly girl…stand aside, now…"_ _(_pg 281 ch. 17 DH)  
the cold voice gave her strength. The same voice that had killed her beloved James and would kill her Harry too. No!

"Please don't kill Harry, take me, kill me instead—"

Lily was babbling, all the time trying to think of a way to get out of this impossible situation. But her mind was blank.  
Voldemort laughed.

His shrieking laugh triggered off a memory. A memory of a shrieking book. Lily remembered having taken it from the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts library when she had been doing extra research for her NEWTs.

"This is the last warning I am giving you—"

_"Not Harry! Please…have mercy…have mercy…Not Harry! Not Harry! Please, I'll do anything—"(_pg 281 ch. 17 DH)

"Stand aside, girl—"

She heard the curse and saw the green light coming towards her. She hoped that her plan would work. The shrieking book had put forth a theory. A theory, she wished with all her might, was true.

Lily Potter dropped to the floor, dead but with a small ray of hope.

A/N:

Timeline-

Lily Pregnant 1(Harry)- November 1979  
Lily walking- early August 1981  
Fidelius Charm- October 24 1981  
Death- Halloween 1981


End file.
